Throughout time, the power of prayer has been
questioned by science. The analytical mind of the scientist calls for proof of
the existence of a higher being. These scientists, both the faithful and
nonbelievers alike, have produced studies into the affects of prayer on our
physical as well as spiritual well being. Although most of us, who possess the
belief that prayer can and does work, do not require physical, quantitative
proof of the power of prayer, it is interesting to read the results of these
studies.

Was a scientific study of prayer and its effect on heart
patients done?

One of the most quoted scientific studies of prayer was done
between August of 1982 and May of 1983. 393 patients in the San Francisco
General Hospitalís Coronary Care Unit participated in a double blind study to
assess the therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer. Patients were randomly
selected by computer to either receive or not receive intercessory prayer. All
participants in the study, including patients, doctors, and the conductor of the
study himself remained blind throughout the study, To guard against biasing the
study, the patients were not contacted again after it was decided which group
would be prayed for, and which group would not.

It was assumed that although the patients in the control
group would not be prayed for by the participants in the study, that
others-family members, friends etc., would likely pray for the health of at
least some of the members of the control group. There was no control over this
factor. Meanwhile all of the members of the group that received prayer would be
prayed for by not only those associated with the study, but by others as well.

The results of the study are not surprising to those of us
who believe in the power of prayer. The patients who had received prayer as a
part of the study were healthier than those who had not. The prayed for group
had less need of having CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) performed and less
need for the use of mechanical ventilators. They had a diminished necessity for
diuretics and antibiotics, less occurrences of pulmonary edema, and fewer
deaths. Taking all factors into consideration, these results can only be
attributed to the power of prayer.

Did prayer lower blood pressure?

The August 31, 1998 issue of Jet Magazine
questioned whether prayer could lower blood pressure in high blood pressure
sufferers, Again the obvious conclusion was reached. The magazine reported of a
study conducted by Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. This study had
over 4,000 participants over the age of 65. The study found that those who pray
and attend religious services on a weekly basis, especially those between the
ages of 65 and 74, had lower blood pressure than their counterparts who did not
pray or attend religious services. They found that the more religious the
person, particularly those whoprayed or studied the Bible weekly, the
lower the blood pressure. According to the study these people were forty percent
less likely to have high diastolic pressure or diastolic hypertension than these
were who did not attend religious services, pray, or study the Bible.

Dr. David B. Larson, president of the National Institute for
Health Care Research in Rockville, MD, who co-authored the study, also says that
prayer can lower high blood pressure. "The at-risk population of people
with illnesses, such as the elderly seem to be helped if they have faith and
religious commitment." Dr. Larson states: "Faith brings a
calming state which helps decrease nervousness and anxiety with coping with day
to day stress."

How does prayer effect people who lack health care?

In the Essence MagazineMay 1997 issue,
Allison Abner writes that African-Americans have historically turned to faith in
times of illness and other crises. She cited Luisah Teish who states: "Because
of limited access to quality health care and our distrust of the medical
establishment we have occasionally relied on spiritual healing through such
practices as prayer and the laying on of hands, Most of us, at some time have
used prayer chanting or proverbs as ways to guide, direct, and heal
ourselves." "Now," states Allison, "Our beliefs are
being backed by medical research," Science is setting out to prove what
most of the faithful already know--prayer does work.

Has a prayer study been done on the life of twins?

The December 1998 issue ofMc CallísMagazine raised
the question: How does prayer heal? The article notes a study done at the
Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, which
studied 1,902 twins. They found that those who were committed to their spiritual
lives tended to have less severe depression and a lower risk of addiction to
cigarettes or alcohol. The healthful lifestyles of the spiritually rich and
faithful clearly contribute to their well being, They tend not to smoke or drink
or not do either excessively. Their marriages are more stable and their
spiritual communities form a network that can catch and support people when they
are ill.

What effect does prayer and religion have on life?

To delve into religious attitudes and their impact on health,
Koenig and his co-researcher, Kenneth Paragament, Ph.D., a professor of
psychology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, studied 577 hospital
patients age 55 and older. One 98-year-old woman with pneumonia and congestive
heart failure looked upon her illness as Godís plan for her. She prayed often
for the health and well being of her family and friends. These attitudes were
associated with a serene response to stress and low levels of depression. All
signs of well beingthat nurture joy in living might even extend oneís
life.

While positive feelings toward a higher power seemed to
foster well being, negative thoughts about a deity had the opposite effect. For
example, a woman in her late 50ís with lung cancer left herchurch in
her 20ís, became involved with drugs, and now feels her illness must be a sign
of divine disapproval. She got poorer scores on tests that measured quality of
life and psychological health than the 98-year-old woman.

What do atheists think about prayer?

Noted atheist Dan Barker, a spokesperson for the Freedom from
Religion Foundation says the findings of the above research are no big surprise.
Prayer and religious beliefs can have a placebo effect, just like a sugar pill.
Barker, who was once a Christian Fundamentalist preacher before developing
serious doubts about his religion, states that one of the strongest factors in
recovery from an illness is a sense of connectedness with a community and people
who care about you. Even if we mumble our prayers only when we are ill or if
there is no God to hear them, the new research indicated that religious thoughts
could help to heal.

Dr. Larry Dossey writes about the placebo effect mentioned
earlier by Dan Barker and physicians who have looked at the tremendous amount of
scientific studies on prayer. As Dr. Dossey states: "That is difficult
to do considering that bacteria, fungi, and germinating seeds are not generally
considered to be susceptible to suggestion."

Does prayer effect plant seeds?

In a study on germinating seeds done by Dr. Franklin Loehr, a
Presbyterian minister and scientist, the objective was to see in a controlled
experiment what effect prayer had over living and seemingly non-living matter.
In one experiment they took three pans of various types of seeds. One was the
control pan. One pan received positive prayer, and the other received negative
prayer. Time after time, the results indicated that prayer helped speed
germination and produced more vigorous plants. Prayers of negation actually
halted germination in some plants and suppressed growth in others.

In another experiment two bottles of spring water were
purchased. One container was used as a control, receiving no prayer; a group
prayed for the second. The water was then used on pans of corn seeds layered in
cotton, with one pan receiving the prayer water and the other receiving the
control water. The pan receiving the prayer water sprouted a day earlier than
seeds in the other pan. The prayer seeds had a higher germination and growth
rate. The experiment was repeated with the same result each time.

What effect does prayer have on microorganisms?

Dr. Dossey, in his book, Be Careful What You Pray For,
looks closelyat experiments with microorganisms. He states, "Skeptics
who do not believe in the effects of distant intentions say that any observed
result must be due to the expectation of the subject- or the power of belief and
thought." Dossey argues that if bacteria respond to outside intentions
by growing more slowly when prayed over, than control groups not receiving
prayer, then one cannot dismiss this result by attributing it to negative
suggestion.

Bacteria presumably do not think positively or negatively.
Another major advantage of microorganisms in studies of distant mental
intentions has to do with the control group. If the effects of intercessory
prayer, for example, are being assessed in a group of humans who have a
particular illness, it is difficult to establish a pure control group that does
not receive prayer. The reason is that sick human beings generally pray for
themselves; or outsiders pray for them, thus contaminating the control group,
which by definition should not receive the treatment being evaluated.

In studies involving microbes, this notorious "Problem
of Extraneous Prayer" is totally overcome because one can be reasonably
certain that the bacteria, fungi, or yeast in a control group will not pray for
themselves. And that their fellow microbes will not pray for them.

If the study involved negative intentions instead of
positives, the advantages remain the same. The thoughts of microorganisms do not
influence its outcome.

Jean Barry, a physician-researcher in Bordeaux, France,
chooses to work with a destructive fungus, Rhizoctonia Solani. He asked 10
people to try to inhibit its growth merely through their intentions at a
distance of 1.5 meter.

The experiment involved control Petri dishes with fungi that
were not influenced in addition to those that were. The laboratory conditions
were carefully controlled regarding the genetic purity of the fungi and the
composition of the culture medium, the relative humidity, and the conditions of
temperature and lighting.

The control petri dishes and the influenced dishes were
treated identically, except for the negative intentions directed toward the
latter. A person who was blind to the details of the experiment handled various
manipulations. The influences simply took their stations at the 1.5 meters and
were free to act as they saw fit for their own concentration. For 15 minutes
each subject was assigned five experimental and five control dishes. Of the ten
subjects three to six subjects worked during a session, and there were nine
sessions.

Measurement of the fungi colony on the Petri dish was
obtained by outlining the boundary of the colony on a sheet of thin paper.
Again, someone who did not know the aim of the experiment or the identity of the
Petri dishes did this. The outlines were then cut out and weighed under
condition of constant temperature and humidity. When the growth in 195
experimental dishes was compared to their corresponding controls, it was
significantly retarded in 151 dishes. The possibility that these results could
be explained by chance was less than one in a thousand.

Dr. Daniel I. Benor, who has evaluated all the known
experimentsin the field of distant healing in his landmark work healing
research, calls this study "Highly significant."

Does physical distance effect prayer?

The researchers William H. Tedder and Melissa L. Monty from
the University of Tennessee replicated the experiment. The goal of this study
was to inhibit the growth of the fungus from the distance of one to fifteen
miles. Two groups participated. Group one was made up of Tedder and six others
who knew him and frequently interacted with him over a year and a half. Group 2
consisted of 8 volunteers who either did not know Tedder or did not interact
with him frequently.

When the growth differential between the experimental and
control dishes were compared, group one was highly successful. The likelihood of
explaining their results by chance were less than 3 in 100,000. Group two was
less successful. Their likelihood of a chance explanation was 6 in 100. Why was
group one more successful? The researchers theorized that because of their
established rapport with Tedder they might have had greater expectation and more
motivation of a positive outcome than group two had.

In a post-experiment questionnaire, the group one subjects
indeed responded more positively to questions about how they perceived their
ability to inhibit the fungal cultures at a distance. Note: This is a clear
example of faith in prayer verses doubt.

The fact that prayer is non local, that it functions at a
distance, and that spatial separation does not diminish the affect means that it
does not have to be intrusive. There is cross-cultural evidence that prayer does
work. The factors that seem to affect the outcome of these studies are qualifies
of consciousness, like caring, compassion, empathy, and love.When you
take these qualities away the outcome of the study is changed. In, fact
according to Dr. Dossey, if you flip these "empathetic, warm feelings"
to the negative, frequently the subject is affected. In experiments a bacterium
died and plants withered when subjected to the negative influence.

Conclusion

These studies have shown conclusive evidence of the power of
prayer. Time after time the outcomes of these tests have shown the reality of
the force of a higher being and our ability to communicate with Him.

We have also learned from viewing the results of these
studies that the expectations we have while praying factor into the outcome of
our prayers. Though the faithful will always believe that there need not be any
physical evidence of the power and effects of prayer, science has come a long
way toward showing just that-prayer is real, and it works.